Theory behind how SSIS gets so fast...

I owe someone credit for this, and when I find that article again, I'll give them full credit...

Unlike most other ETL tools that deal with data on a row by row basis, SSIS uses memory buffers to hold the data in place. So think of it like this.....

Instead of data passing through the transformations to different places in memory, think of it as the data being stationary, and the transformations passing over the data. When you're done transforming, it comes out of memory into your destination. Moral of the story....the more memory, the better.....

To put it in simpler terms, sometimes the chicken crosses the road, sometimes the road passes beneath the chicken. In SSIS, it is the latter.

Wow...that was deep......

Scott Barrett